Taking on the New Year, one week at a time

By David Colello

Monday

Dec 26, 2011 at 12:01 AMDec 26, 2011 at 7:36 AM

Yep, I'm going to give you my two cents on resolutions. How original, right?

Well, there's a reason why people always try out resolutions when starting a new year, and an equally good reason why I'm going to suggest you try them too. What is that reason (you ask with bated breath)? It's because sometimes they actually work!

I believe that people can change, and anything that makes it even a little easier is fine by me. I strongly recommend that my clients try to do "Eight Weeks of Change." For this challenge, the idea is to pick small things.

Make a list of habits you want to break or habits that you would like to start. As tempting as it is to shoot for the moon, avoid changes that will be difficult to sustain. This means don't promise yourself to run an hour every morning or to never eat chocolate again, because you will just end up mad at yourself and depressed when you break your promises.

So when I say aim small, that's exactly what I mean. The following is a few examples of changes that my clients have had success in making:

• Do a couple stretches every morning when getting out of bed.

• While brushing your teeth, alternate balancing on one leg at a time.

• Every time you stand up at your desk, sit and stand again before going about your business.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator (unless you have to go to a meeting 20 floors up).

• Drink a glass of water in between any other drinks you have (coffee, soda, etc.).

These changes may seem too small to do much, but the mere fact that you stick to them is the biggest benefit. Once you see that you can make positive changes in your life, then the bigger changes begin to seem a little more achievable.

So for New Year's Day, start with your first small change and mark your progress every day on your calendar. Once you finish Week 1, then continue your first change but add a second small change. As the weeks roll onward, you will find that incorporating more and more changes isn't as impossible as you once thought it to be.

Keep up with a new change every week for as long as you like, or as long as you can keep coming up with ideas for them. It will become fun to think of new challenges for yourself. Also, it won't be as depressing if after a few weeks you forget one of your changes occasionally. Doing even two or three each day will seem like an accomplishment.

The most important lesson to learn from this experiment is that you can change your behavior and get healthy one step, or one week, at a time.

Albert Einstein once said "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." Each Monday, David and Catherine Colello, your friendly neighborhood trainers at Yardley Fitness, will show us how by exploring ways that different types of people can take control of their health. They can be reached at info@yardleyfitness.com

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